The Ingathering
by Caitriona3
Summary: A new prophecy looms & suddenly the Scoobies must find the families they never knew they had. Multiple crossovers - very, very AU. Warning - NOT FOR CANON-PURISTS. (X-overs include Supernatural, Stargate SG1, Harry Potter, Criminal Minds, Boondock Saints, Charmed, CSI: New York, Magnificent Seven, Stargate Atlantis, CSI: Miami, with allowances for cameos from anywhere else.)
1. The Prophecy

_Author's Note – you may find this familiar, but I'm revamping and re-editing it. I started this story ages and ages ago, and I have learned a great deal about writing since then. The first two and a half chapters are going to be a blend of old writing and some new, but hopefully after that my more mature style will pick up. Please remember – if you recognize it from something official, then I don't own it!_

**Chapter 1**

**The Prophecy**

Golden light filtered through the branches of great trees to glitter across a raised silver pool. A shadowy figure moved around the edge of the basin, passing a graceful, long-fingered hand over the waters. Shimmering eyes watched carefully as images seemed to float to the surface; nine faces linked by translucent bonds, one to the other, but each strong, a power in their own right. A soft sigh rippled over the liquid mirror. _*It has been so long.*_

A second figure moved forward to stand behind the first. _*Yes, but the blood remains strong.* _His mental voice held depth, something that hinted at the long ages they stood watch over the very fabric of reality.

Despite holding its own secrets, her voice seemed light and lyrical in comparison._ *This bloodline would never fail – that was the promise. And they will be needed. They have been tested and tried many times, but this will be their greatest test yet.*_

With a gesture, the images began to flicker – moving from one scene to another in rapid succession. Picture after picture raced across the rippling water: a flashing pair of yellow eyes glaring out of a smoky cloud; a pyramid and figures with glowing eyes; a red-eyed man encircled by a snake; human-like creatures with white hair and hungry eyes; and many more dark figures, servants of evil, both human and other.

The male stirred as the various evils shadowed the water. _*Are they ready?*_

_*They will have to be,*_ she replied softly.

This time his hand moved. One tapered finger touched the pool and it undulated, swirls and eddies causing the shadows to fragment. Light broke through and new images began to appear: two men talking as they drove along a country road; four people emerging from a large ring of light; three uniformed teenagers hunched over a table cluttered with books and parchment; a bright, shining city surrounded by water; three women gathered around a thick book resting on a stand; a group of people talking on a plane; a dark-haired man talking to a woman and a man standing on a beach; two men walking out of a large cathedral; and a man and woman at the base of a great statue. After these images, the nine faces appeared once more and froze. Above each head, a rune glowed brightly in the silver water: justice, change, wisdom, power, loyalty, transformation, love, vision, and harmony.

As they slowly began to fade, a clear beautiful voice echoed throughout the clearing.

"The ingathering begins."

At a private school just outside of Cleveland…

Despite the rampant curiosity of the neighbors, the school remained an enigma. The students, predominantly, but not exclusively female, were a mixed bag of backgrounds and personalities. The teachers were even worse. This was only to be expected, however, at the Joyce Summers Memorial School, the main headquarters for the International Defense Foundation, formerly known as the Watcher's Council. The I.D.F., as it came to be known to various world governments, was an independently wealthy organization with no direct ties to any one country. Thanks to some extensive negotiations, the IDF had the highest security ranking of any organization in the United States and Britain as well as maintaining a highly cordial bond with the Vatican. Most other countries toed a careful line around the foundation, understanding that any attempt to control, examine, or exterminate a member brought serious consequences to the politicians in question. Carefully worded threats and a handful of minor demonstrations cemented the foundation's reputation as an honorable but ruthless force to be reckoned with. Minor officials might never understand the uproar caused by a visit, but those in power knew the IDF was the one main force standing between supernatural evil and the rest of the world.

Inside the main building, a tiny brunette walked towards the library for the weekly board meeting. Two combs pulled back her long brown hair, displaying intense blue eyes in a pale face. Four fine white lines marked one side of her throat. Serenity Summers possessed a compact, lithe form that displayed a dancer's grace as she expertly dodged a pair of dueling teenagers when they barreled around the corner just ahead of her in full-fight mode. Sapphire eyes narrowed on them, but her voice remained calm and steady. "No sword-fighting in the hallways. Take it out to the courtyard."

"Yes, Serenity." They nodded and shuffled off with half-embarrassed, half-mischievous smiles.

"Slayters," she sighed as they moved out of earshot. Reaching out, she opened the library door to find the rest of the executive board waiting for her. She entered the room, smiling at the nine people waiting inside. "Afternoon, everyone."

Return smiles quickly flashed her way as she closed the door and moved to take her usual seat at the foot of the table. Tara Maclay sat to her left along with Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, Willow Rosenberg, and her sister Buffy. On her right, Cordelia Chase carefully examined her nails with Xander Harris, Faith Lehane, and her baby sister Dawn taking up the remainder of that side of the table. Serenity nodded to the man sitting at its head. "Sorry I'm so late, Giles."

Rupert Giles shook his head with a smile. "Not at all, dear girl. Shall we get started?" His eyes scanned the table to make sure everyone appeared ready. "Very well then. Perhaps we should start with the unfortunate incident in Lyons-"

Cordelia jerked in her chair and gave a sharp gasp. All other sound stopped as attention snapped to their seer. She sat straight up and her eyes glazed milky white. Giles, Willow, and Dawn scrambled for pen and paper to catch every word. Her mouth opened and a many-layered voice echoed in the room.

_"Behold! The ingathering begins!_

_As before, so again._

_Nine warriors of light,_

_Stand firm against the night._

_Light defend them, light protect them,_

_Light grant them aid – blood to blood send the call._

"_See the Hands, soldiers of might,_

_The Last and then the New,_

_Quick to strike, protection to give._

"_Let the Last seek_

_Where the eagles of the sky_

_Dwell within a hollow hill_

_Seek thee out the ring of light._

"_Let the New seek_

_Where a house of faith_

_Hides a darker calling_

_Seek thee out the blood-drenched saints._

"_Wisdom calls the eldest sage_

_To a northern land and a castle of stone,_

_Sticks and stones and magic abounds_

_Seek thee out thy logical heiress._

"_White, black, white, red,_

_Far the distance thy kin has fled,_

_In a world of amber glass,_

_Seek thee out thy lost brethren._

"_Now the turn of the one who sees,_

_The heart of the warrior given to all,_

_Where the golden gate crosses the tear-filled blue,_

_Seek thee out the circle of three._

"_Last, new, first, full,_

_Danger from the brightest night,_

_Answers in the smallest piece, in the home of refugees,_

_Seek thee out the shielded sage._

"_Heart-healer, soul-seer,_

_Distaff gives the slayer, spear gives the hunters,_

_Where the blood calls out,_

_Seek thee out thy shadowed kindred._

"_Voice of the silent one,_

_Peace, tranquility is thy gift,_

_In a city of steel, of stone, of glass,_

_Seek thee out thy mountain kin._

"_Eyes that part the gathered mist,_

_Daughter of far Delphi,_

_Kin who peers into the mind,_

_Seek thee out the eyes that pierce._

"_Gather thy kindred, gather thy allies,_

_Darkness circles, tightening round,_

_Patterns change and patterns dance,_

_Let not thy clan let pass this chance._

_As time gets close, let the eyes see,_

_When ripe the harvest, voices shall hear."_

Cordelia slumped over, leaning on the table. Xander helped her drink some water while the others exchanged concerned looks. She had never given a prophecy before. Cordelia's gifts generally revolved around visions, not prophetic warnings. Changes were almost never good in their line of work. Finally, after taking a deep breath, Giles looked around the table and then back down to the paper in his hands.

"Oh, dear."

A couple of snorts and a handful of giggles met Giles' response. He gazed fondly around the table, taking note of everyone's reactions. Buffy snagged his paper as she and Willow huddled to compare the three copies. The two women confirmed they all matched before Buffy moved to make copies for everyone while Xander hovered over Cordelia as she recovered from her vision-induced headache. Oz and Tara began making some notes on the papers before them as Dawn and Faith set up the white boards for group notes. Serenity sat back and her eyes, though serious, sparkled at him.

"Oh, dear?" she quoted, in a sing-song voice. "Giles, you are, as always, a master of understatement."

He tilted his head slightly to the right. "Would you have preferred a different reaction?"

"Lord, no," she said, eyes widening in mock innocence. "If you said anything other than 'Oh, dear,' we would have to check you for possession."

"Surely I am not that predictable," he protested half-heartedly, appreciating her efforts to lighten the moment.

Xander snorted, "G-man, who was it that once said 'Oh, as usual, dear' when you realized you had no way to call Buffy in an emergency?"

The Englishman sighed, "Do cease using that ridiculous name, please, Xander."

Giving a goofy grin in stark contrast to his pirate looks, the man sat back down in his seat to the shared laughter in the room. Buffy handed out copies as everyone else came back to the table. Serenity nodded to Giles – the others were over the first shock of the prophecy and ready to go to work. He straightened in his chair. "First impressions?"

Silence reigned for a long, tense moment. The first comment came from an unexpected source as Tara's soft voice broke in. "It's about each of us, I think."

Everyone looked at the shy young woman. With her modest, retiring air, she would not strike anyone as someone important or powerful. Most people would have written her off as the weakest link…and 'most people' would have been wrong. Everyone at the table could attest to the power of the unassuming witch. While Willow possessed more raw power and innate talent, Tara had a better mystical education and more proficiency in the healing arts. Despite being a latecomer to the Scoobies, she had more than proven her worth during the last few years in Sunnydale. Oz brought her into their circle after meeting her during the whole 'Gentlemen' nightmare during their freshman year of college. She became good friends with Willow, helping her learn more of the magical arts. Tara played "Mother" to the school – bandaging skinned knees, providing a shoulder for broken hearts, and fiercely defending her charges.

She looked back at the others; still the shy one, but comfortable within this circle. Standing and moving to one of the white boards, she made a quick list of numbers, counting up to nine. "'The one who sees' – a little over halfway down – that would be Xander, right?"

Slow nods met her comment even as eyes narrowed on the pages before them. Giles stood and moved over to her. "Indeed, and each of these stanzas do appear to mention a person."

"So we start by figuring out who's who?" Dawn asked, one eyebrow lifting even as she began to slowly read through the prophecy once more.

Buffy looked down at her copy before turning her gaze to Faith. "If Tara's right, then the first two, after the intro, are Faith and I – the two bits about the 'Hands'."

Willow perked up as she took in the logic of Buffy's comments. "Oh, of course! The Empowerment spell – Buffy was the Hand – the action. That would go along with Xander's section as well – it calls him the heart. The Last and the New though…" She hummed for a moment before her breath caught. "Wait, got it - the Last would be Buffy, the last of the solo slayers. The New would be Faith, the new slayer line, because the inheritance, mystically-speaking anyway, goes through her now."

Tara wrote down each discovery on the board as it was made.

Oz looked around. "The section after Xander's is mine." Everyone looked at him, and Serenity raised an eyebrow in question. He shrugged. "Last, new, first, full – it's talking about the moon. The brightest night would be the full moon – the night I would be the most dangerous."

The stoic werewolf watched as Tara wrote down his name. He had struggled with the wolf for eight years now. Thanks to some training he received in Tibet while Willow was on magical detox in England a few years ago, he now controlled his animal side most of the time. Even when his pack was threatened, he could maintain – taking a half-wolf, half-human form that combined the wolf's strength and the man's intelligence. It was a good thing too. His pack was usually in some kind of trouble after all – it wouldn't do to lose his balance just because of something that common. Generally only a serious threat to Willow could break his composure, and as she steadily gained in power, that danger became almost, though not completely, negligible.

Serenity spoke up. "The last person mentioned is Cordelia – the daughter of Delphi." Half the table began nodding while the other half looked confused. She exchanged an understanding grin with Giles, Willow, Oz and Tara. Turning to the others, she explained. "Delphi is a famous in Greek history – infamous in some cases. According to Greek mythology, Apollo chose Delphi for his chief shrine. He was the god of prophecy. The Oracle of Delphi was reputed to be the most powerful, the most accurate, prophetess ever. Kings, nobles, everyone took tribute to Delphi to seek her counsel before doing anything important. Cordelia has the gift of prophecy – thus, the daughter of far Delphi."

"That gives us five so far," said Willow.

Faith snorted, and then gestured to the redhead. "And missing the obvious – white, black, white, red? Has to be talking about Red. White witch, dip in to the black, and now blinding white again, but always red."

Although she'd looked a bit guilty at the mention of black, Willow giggled as Faith finished. Everyone smiled or laughed in response and Tara made note of the identification. Cordelia flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder. "Well, Dawn probably isn't on the list. The PTB's usually lump her in with Buffy. That leaves Giles, Tara and Rini…unless they're talking about some stranger."

Serenity smiled as the brunette seer used her nickname. It had taken a long while for Cordelia to accept Rini's honest affection and concern, but it had been worth the effort. Cordelia really had been a lonely girl, despite her attitude and pride. During the summer before her senior year, when her prophetic gifts suddenly came online, she went to Serenity for reassurance. Finally having true friends, a big sister, and a real father-figure, she came into her own. She still ruled the school, but she could do it without needing the approval of a fair-weather circle of sheep. It also led her to deciding to stay in Sunnydale and fight the good fight.

"Wouldn't Giles be the eldest they're talking about?" Dawn asked. "He'd also be considered a sage, right?"

Tara nodded as she turned to make a note on the board. "A sage is a wise person, a teacher, so that fits."

The group looked at the remaining two sections. Willow frowned and then looked at Buffy. "Buffy, after the Empowerment spell, when we all dreamed about the first slayer, didn't you say that Tara showed up as her voice? And how you kept getting told that death was your gift?" The tiny blond nodded. Willow smiled. "Then the section right before Cordelia's is for Tara – the voice of the silent one. Also, it points to the dream by saying that peace and tranquility are her gifts."

Giles stared at the board. "That leaves the final section for Serenity."

"We're sure it's for her, right?" Xander asked. "We're not looking for someone else?"

Their mentor shook his head. "It is actually quite accurate – a soul-seer is an ancient term for empathy. Also, it says 'distaff gives the slayer.' Distaff in this sense is an English term referring to one's maternal family. So, this section is for Serenity as she and Buffy are sisters on their mother's side. On the 'spear' side, or her father's side, she apparently has siblings as well, the 'hunters' that are mentioned."

Xander blinked at him and then grinned. "So, it's her, right?"

Everyone laughed as Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. "Really, Xander, must you? Never mind – now that we know who is being talked to, we must determine to whom we are being directed."

Another long silence dominated in the library. Everyone stared at their copy of the prophecy while comparing it to the list on the board.

Last "Hand" – Buffy

New "Hand" – Faith

Sage – Giles

Red – Willow

One who sees – Xander

Brightest night – Oz

Soul-seer – Rini

Voice – Tara

Delphi – Cordelia

Faith cleared her throat. "I think I know who mine is talking about. 'The blood-drenched saints' sounds like a rumor back in Boston. It was about a pair of brothers, vigilantes, who were taking back the streets from the criminals. The courts were letting some real scumbags go because of technicalities. It was said that these two brothers would see justice done when the law failed. They believed they had been called to a sacred duty by God."

Giles frowned, opened his mouth, and then slowly shut it. Looking down, he shook his head before turning back to her. "That…concerns me, though I understand the need that drives them. Let me look into this before we go seeking them out. Unless we cannot decipher the others any more clearly, I would like to hold off. Such people are often one step away from becoming outlaws themselves. We have all walked that path, and I do not want to risk one of us by going in blind."

She nodded. "Five by five with me. Far as I know, it's a rumor, but I don't think I'd be at the top of their A-list."

It was Serenity's turn to frown. "You've done your time Faith. You've paid your penance. No one is going to work with us unless they accept and respect that."

"Agreed," said Giles. "Faith, many of us have histories we regret. What matters is that we have paid the price for our actions and are now working to move to a better future. You are one of us – newcomers must accept that."

Buffy shrugged when Faith looked at her. "Ditto what they said. You've long since made up for your mistakes. You're ours – let's roll."

Faith shifted in her seat, embarrassed at the attention. Cordelia gave her a long stare and then looked around the table. Pulling a nail file out of her purse, she began working on her nails. "Well, Xander's is easy. He's headed for San Francisco." In unison, everyone glanced at their paper and then at her. She smiled and tossed her hair. "Oh please, golden gate? As in the Bridge? Tear-filled, read salty, blue? Can we say 'ocean'? Where else would he be going?"

Again in unison, everyone blinked. Giles shook his head and Serenity could almost read his thoughts, so clearly were they scrawled across his face. The girl could be so concerned with her appearance, give the overall impression of being scatterbrained, and then she pulls out an answer in a snap. Not one of the people he considered his children lacked intelligence, but she knew he wished he could get them to apply themselves more often. Turning to the rest of the table, he nodded. "I believe she is correct. It certainly fits. Very well, Tara, would you please continue adding to our list? Boston for Faith and San Francisco for Xander."

As Tara moved toward the board, the others bent over the prophecy once more. Willow frowned and turned to look at the blonde witch. "Tara, this is telling us to look for your mountain kin. That's not your father is it?"

She shook her head, eyes wide. Despite the years with the Scoobies, her childhood still caused her to shake. "No! My mother had cousins in Montana. I guess one of them must have moved. They lived on a ranch, not in a city like this describes. I can try and find out."

Serenity frowned and stood up. She paced around the library while the others watched. After a few minutes, broken only by her quiet mutterings, she turned and pinned Willow with a stare. "We can sit here for hours trying to pour over this thing, but some of us did not get clues to a location. There has to be a way to speed the process up. The conclusion to the prophecy makes me nervous. It's telling us not to let this chance slip by – does that mean we only have a short time? This is the first time we've ever been told we need allies – how bad is this going to be? Willow, Tara, Giles – is there any way we can more precisely pinpoint the people we're looking for? I don't know – some kind of mystical tracking something or other?"

The three magic users exchanged glances and Willow bit her lip. "Well, maybe, it would require blood from everyone, and we'd have to keep it separate, otherwise the results would be all kinds of mixed up. Plus of course, we'd need some of Dawn's blood since the Key-ness is basically everywhere, that would be the foundation for the search – otherwise we'd run out of steam and the spell would fizzle, or maybe we would draw too much power and start blowing the transformers. Oh, that would be bad – the city wouldn't know what to do with that kind of blackout. I mean, the hospital is just down the street and they need the power, so we don't want to overdo the mojo and draw on it, so Dawn's blood would be the only way to keep that from happening but…."

Oz gave a half-grin and reached over, placing one finger on his girlfriend's lips. She went silent and blinked at him. He smiled back at her. "Breathe."

With a slight flush, she nodded. He removed his finger and she took a deep breath, smiled at him and turned back to the table. "Sorry, but yes I think we can do that. We'll need a little time."

"Right." Giles stood up and looked around, leaning one hip on the side of the table as he did so. "Willow, Tara and I will work on this. The rest of you go make sure the students are not burning down the house."

Xander grinned as he gave Cordelia a hand up. "But, Giles, Buffy's in here."

"Hey!" Buffy's mouth dropped open in shock while everyone else began laughing. Planting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at her friend, she tilted her head. "What are you implying?"

He smirked back at her, his single eye gleaming behind a lock of shaggy dark hair. "Why, Buffster, I'm not implying anything. It's a well-known fact that fire is your friend."

"There were vampires in that gym!"

"Yeah, B," Faith nodded, "but what about the warehouse last month?"

"Demons! It was a demon convention."

Dawn snorted. "And that old club in LA last year?"

Serenity grinned at the three still in the library even as she followed the bantering group back out into the hallway. As they walked, through the house, various members began splitting off. Faith and Buffy decided to head down to the gym and do some training while Dawn wanted to finish a translation she had been working on. Cordelia and Xander argued back and forth as they headed toward the private suites, leaving a grinning Serenity and smiling Oz behind them. The werewolf shrugged.

"Going to practice."

"Enjoy."

Serenity shook her head and gave a small sniff as she tried to decide how she would spend her free time. A crash from the kitchen followed by raised voices and some creative Klingon phrases decided for her. If someone did not get Jason and Andrew calmed down, Heaven only knew what they'd have for dinner.

A couple of weeks passed and people began to tiptoe around the three magic users. All of them showed signs of being generally tired and cranky, but only the rest of the board had the presumption to treat them like sleepy toddlers. Even they backed off when Giles began muttering at his books. The time paid off finally just as everyone sat down to lunch almost three weeks to the day after Cordelia first gave the prophecy.

"We got it!"

Willow rushed into the dining hall waving a piece of paper. Her grin grew impossibly larger as she hurried over to the head table. All but flinging herself into her seat, she gave Oz a quick kiss and then learned forward to look down the table to Serenity.

"You had the right idea, Rini. It takes all three of us, but we do have a way to bring up a . . . a magical GPS."

Everyone gaped at her. Buffy was the first to shake off the shock and find her voice.

"All _three_ of you? How much power is that?"

She shrugged. "It's not so much a lot of power that's needed, it's more the division of labor. The power requires the freedom to go searching, so I have to let it loose…at least a little bit. Since she's a healer, Tara can act as my anchor – helping me keep a sense of myself so I don't get lost in it. On the other hand, we don't want the power to just go on and on like some Energizer bunny. Giles is the mentor, so he sets the boundaries. Really, I'm just sort of a conduit – my power spills into the area Giles has picked out and does a match. With just a little bit of blood, some herbs, and a lot of Latin, we can highlight a map showing where people who share the same DNA are located."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, Cordelia flicked a lock of hair over one shoulder. "Well, that solves the problem for those of us looking for blood relatives. What about the others?"

The redhead blinked. "Um…"

"Yeah," Faith frowned as she leaned forward to snatch some fries from the platter in front of Xander. "Only about half of them said anything about kin, or brothers, or something."

Oz shook his head. He pulled a copy of the prophecy out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Blood to blood send the call," he noted, pointing to a line near the top of the page.

"He's right." Tara took her place on the other side of Oz, across from Cordelia. She gave a small smile to the seer. "All of us should bring up some kind of reaction. Your prophecy says so."

Serenity froze at the softly spoken words.

_Oh, damn!_

She stood abruptly. Everyone stopped and stared. Looking around, she gestured to her sisters. "Buffy, Dawn, could I speak to you privately?"

Without waiting for an answer, she left the dining hall and moved quickly to the Scooby study. Unlike the library which was still the Scooby meeting room of choice, the study was used by any one of them that needed to have a truly private discussion. Between Xander's construction know-how, Willow's magic, and Cordelia's decorating, it was sound-proofed, scry-proofed, bug-proofed, and basically more private than any of the bedrooms. They even had a rule about it on the list of Scooby-rules. Rule number nine – nothing short of an apocalypse warranted barging into this room. And it had better be a major apocalypse, not one of the minis.

Along one wall, Cordelia had used pictures to create a family memorial. Pictures of Joyce Summers, Jenny Calendar, Jesse McNally, Anya Jenkins and Kendra Young dominated, but there were others present as well. Each face meant something to the ten of them. Overstuffed couches and chairs were spaced throughout the room, and there were tables piled with books as well as a computer over in one corner. A beautiful grandfather clock stood in the opposite corner with Giles' favorite reading chair in front of it. The room even boasted a tiny kitchenette at one end. This was their inner sanctum so to speak. This was the one place they could break down, shake in fear, and have their freak outs – they didn't have to be confident here. This is where they brought their troubles.

Serenity snorted.

_Or in this case, our secrets._

She heard her sisters come in and shut the door, but she kept her eyes firmly fixed on her mother's smile. Her eyes grew misty as she contemplated the actions she was about to take. Finally, when it became clear she was not going to start without a prompt, Buffy cleared her throat.

"Rini? What's up?"

Turning around, she met their eyes, blue and brown, before moving over to sit in the chair across from them. She could feel herself trembling and she took a couple of deep breaths.

"I'm working my way up to this. I'm about to break a very old promise."

"Promise to whom?" Dawn frowned.

"Mom." She bit her lip. "I made Mom a promise a long time ago, and now I have to break it." The other two exchanged a quick glance before turning back to her. They stayed silent. With a sigh, she shrugged. "I really have no idea how to even begin with this. It was not something I ever had to worry about before."

Scrubbing her face with her hands, Serenity stood up once more and began pacing around the study. She did not want to do this – she really, really didn't. Coming to a stop in front of her mother's picture, she stared into the beloved face and remembered a conversation almost ten years back. Quietly and without turning around, she began to speak.

_~~Flashback~~_

_"Sooner or later you are going to have to tell her."_

_Serenity stood in the kitchen of her mother's new house watching while she cut up vegetables for a salad. Although her hands remained steady, she could see the tremble in her mother's lips._

_Finally, her mother looked at her and shook her head. "Maybe."_

_Huffing out a breath, she grabbed a piece of celery and popped it in her mouth. The silence grew heavy between them and Joyce's shoulders tightened. For a long moment, Serenity debated saying anything further, but concern for her sister won out._

_"Mom, what if something happens? To you, or, God forbid, to her? Is that how you want her to find out? In an emergency – when there's no other choice?"_

_Before she could say anymore, Joyce tossed the knife into the sink and leaned on the countertop, staring at her. Fear, concern, and a small trace of anger flashed in her eyes as she stared at her eldest daughter. "I'm not going to bring it up right now, and neither are you. Your sister has been through enough. First, the . . . incident at school, then the institution, and finally the divorce; she needs time. We're in a new town, with a new school. Nobody knows her here and she needs the space to deal with that, not have us throw something else at her right now. Later, when the time is right, we can think about telling her all of this, but not now – she just needs some time."_

_She lifted one dark eyebrow, so different from her mother's blond locks, over a cynical blue eye. "She needs more time…or you need more time?"_

_Her mother's lips folded in annoyance. "That is enough, Serenity Grace. I will have your word on this. You will not mention anything to her."_

_With a deep sigh, she bowed her head in defeat. "I promise."_

_~~End Flashback~~_

Looking over her shoulder, she could see the nervousness in her sister's expressive face. She watched as Buffy took a deep breath. "Rini, I need to know."

Sighing, she moved back to her chair and looked into her sister's eyes. "Buffy, Hank . . . Hank is not your father."

A deafening silence filled the room. Buffy sat like a sculpture carved in ice; while Dawn's wide eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. Everything remained so still Serenity could hear each movement of the pendulum in the clock. She watched as different thoughts raced across Buffy's eyes, even as she kept a tight rein on her empathic abilities, not wanting to intrude on her sister's privacy. The silence stretched into several minutes with the tension winding tighter in her stomach.

Buffy blinked. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth; then she shut it, and sighed. Falling back against the cushions, her blond hair standing out in vivid relief against the deep green of the couch, she stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then, turning her head without lifting it, she peered at her sister with moist green eyes. "It's funny. I don't know how to feel right now."

Serenity nodded, but didn't speak.

"I'm mad; I'm happy, sad, confused…everything all at once. I want to be so mad at Mom right now, but at the same time, I'm glad she didn't tell me before. I mean, I always figured the divorce was my fault, you know, for the gym and everything. What would it have been if I suddenly found out I wasn't really his?" Before either of her sisters could say anything, Buffy held up a hand. "Don't, just don't. That's the other side of this – I'm happy. This means I'm not his. I don't share any piece of DNA with a man who never even asked about the daughters he raised when Mom died. He couldn't even be bothered to check or come to her funeral. He raised me – for fifteen years, he raised me like his own and then . . . BAM . . . I don't matter to him, so I'm happy." She blew out a breath, sitting up and leaning on the arm of the sofa. "I'm just confused at this point. What am I supposed to feel?"

Serenity stood up and moved to sit on the table in front of the couch so she was right in front of her sister. Buffy shifted until she sat up straight once more. Their knees touched.

"I don't think there's a set feeling you're supposed to have right now. You have every right to be mad – at Mom, at Hank, at me." Buffy went to interrupt, but she shook her head. "I kept a secret from you – a big one, an important one. Yes, I promised Mom, but still you're my sister. After she was gone, my first loyalty was to the two of you." Glancing at Dawn, she held out an arm and Dawn cuddled in close to her side. "You both deserved the truth, and I didn't tell you."

Buffy leaned forward, throwing her arms around both of them. The three sisters clung to one another for a long moment before pulling slowly apart. Serenity moved back toward the chair and perched on the edge. Dawn simply shifted until she was sitting cross-legged on one end of the table where she could see both of her older sisters. With a sudden frown, the youngest of the sisters turned to the eldest.

"If Mom didn't want to say anything, why did you know?"

Serenity snorted. "I walked in at exactly the wrong moment during a discussion between her and Hank. He wasn't talking about Buffy, but he was making commentary on her having two different kids by two different men, neither of whom were her husband."

"Jerk."

Dawn's pronouncement startled both of her sisters into smiling. She grinned, apparently feeling proud of herself for summing up the man so neatly. The smug look on her face had their lips twitching, but when she started humming the song "So Good," her two sisters looked at each other and just started to laugh.

When the three women emerged from the study, they found the rest of the Scoobies gathered in the library. Caridad and Shannon, two of the Sunnydale Slayers, guarded the door. They were present to keep anyone from interrupting until the ritual was complete. Serenity could feel the satisfaction they radiated at being trusted by their leaders, the Inner Circle as the students called them. She hid her grin as Buffy nodded at them when the three sisters walked past to enter the room.

Inside the library, preparations were under way. The tables had been moved to one side, and covered with maps. Willow and Tara moved around the center of the room setting up candles and crystals in a predetermined order. Oz and Xander held the excess supplies and followed along as the team's witches did their work. Cordelia stretched out on a lounge in an alcove off to the side and filed her nails while Faith sat cross-legged in front of her, sharpening a dagger. Giles leaned on the door to his private office overseeing the whole operation.

He glanced over to the sisters and tilted his head in Buffy's direction. She shrugged one shoulder and gave him a small smile, letting him know that while she might be a bit confused, it would be all right. When his eyes darted to meet Serenity's, she quirked an eyebrow that told him it was Buffy's story to tell now, and everyone would just have to wait until she was ready. Dawn gave a simple shrug at his look and went over to sit by Faith. With a slow nod, he accepted their reassurances and moved towards the tables.

"Willow, everyone is here now if you are ready to begin."

The redhead nodded. "First, everyone grab a map off the table and write your name in the upper corner. Giles, you need the one of Great Britain since you're pretty sure all of your family is still over there, but everybody else gets one of the US maps. Tara is going to prick your finger – you need to let three drops of blood fall on the lower edge of the map."

Tara approached each of them with quick sure steps and lightly scored their index finger with a black athame. As the crimson liquid welled up, each of them carefully marked their maps with no more than three drops. They knew perfectly well how delicate some magic could be and no one had any intention of being the one to cause this to blow up in their faces. As they finished, the maps were placed in a circle, each held down by clear crystals. Willow sat at the center of a circular design created by maps, crystals, candles and salt. Closing her eyes and raising her hands out to the side, palms up, she tilted her head back and began to chant.

_"Cruor ut cruor nos transporto is dico. Permissum ut quod est lost exsisto ostendo sum. Cruor venalicium, cruor peto, fatum has accersitus quod nos would refero. Proeliator of lux lucis nos peto. Permissum nostrum cognatio audite quod refero. Ostendo nos via!"_

Light gathered like miniature suns over both of Willow's upturned palms. As her voice rang out, the fire flared up, and formed an arch over her head. Giles and Tara knelt on either side of her just outside the circle. They remained silent, focusing all of their energy to keep Willow's power in check. The others could see the power trying to escape. Small amounts of lightening flickered across the circle, probing the shielding. With a final cry, Willow released the magic. Her hair, floating in an unseen breeze, went pure white as the power rippled across the maps. The lines swayed, moving with the ebb and flow of the magic as the blood was absorbed and matched. As each map solidified once more, they could see glowing dots gently pulsating on each one. Finally, the power swirled and gathered and poured over Willow once more. As it sank into her skin, her hair returned to its normal auburn shade and her eyes opened.

Alive with power, she glanced over the maps quickly. Everything appeared in order and she made a few motions with her hands to open the circle. Oz and Xander gathered the maps, placing them back on the table. The entire group helped clean up the remnants of the circle so the library could be put back in order. Once finished, they each took their usual seats, staring down at the maps in front of them.

Willow bounced in her seat, almost vibrating. Using so much white magic always made her slightly giddy. "If everything worked properly, we should each have a light on our maps. They're different colors, but we wanted to try and help narrow our focus. The only way we could think to do that was by giving different colors to the different levels of relation. I mean, how would we know what to look for? Are we looking for parents, or siblings, or what? So, we decided to have the colors all mean something. I have two lights in Canada! Oh, but one of them is green. What was green again? I don't think I should have a green dot in Canada…what…"

Oz reached over and covered her mouth with his hand. Buffy turned slightly and put her hand on her friend's shoulder, pressing lightly. "Slow down, Wills, we'll get to it."

Willow nodded, and gave Oz's hand a gentle push. "Right, I know. It's just . . . exciting and scary all at the same time!"

Giles smiled at her. "We set the colors in order to give us a range of person to look for – blue is for a person's parents, green for their siblings, brothers or sisters, yellow would be for a child, while purple would be for some other relative, like a cousin, aunt, or uncle."

Dawn glanced across the table at her sister's and choked. Her blue eyes wide and jaw slightly loose, she pointed at Buffy's map. Everyone looked at Buffy while Serenity quickly rose and moved to her sister's side. Buffy's map held a handful of purple dots, which she ignored, but there was also one green dot, one yellow dot, and two blue ones.

Serenity stared at the map before having to brace herself against Giles' chair. Her blue eyes connected with Buffy's green. She shook her head. "That's not possible."

"You think?" the blond Slayer scoffed, raw disbelief evident in her tone.

Giles leaned forward to see around the brunette currently perched on the arm of his chair. He looked intently at the map before taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. As he put the glasses back on, he glanced at Dawn and then looked back. "Buffy?"

She huffed and folded her arms over her chest. Giving the map an evil eye, she turned towards Giles with her patented pout. "Well, Rini's the green one, and I'd guess the spell's defining Dawn as the yellow. And I have no idea why there are two blue dots. There should only be one."

"Shouldn't the one be in Europe though?" Xander frowned. "Both of these are here."

Buffy grimaced and shifted in her seat. She gave a deep sigh as she rubbed her forehead with one hand. With a glance at her sisters, she told the rest of the group what Serenity had revealed in the study. Everyone was silent for a long moment.

Finally, Giles removed his glasses and began cleaning them. "Given everything we had previously known or believed about our families, and what little we have determined about the prophecy, I believe we all expected some surprises. For example, I cannot begin to explain the existence of a yellow dot in Scotland. Buffy…simply has more than expected. As we find the people that Willow's spell has pinpointed, I imagine we will find answers. What we need to consider at the moment is how we plan to go about searching for these individuals."

"Right then," Buffy smiled at her long-time watcher, grateful for his derailing of that particular conversation. She so did not want to have it right now. "I know who all the purple dots on my map are, and none of them are anything like a warrior of light…unless some big bad has decided to start stealing Aunt Paula's recipes. Looks like I'm heading for Colorado to find out why I have two blue dots."

Serenity laughed, honestly amused, as she walked back to her seat. "If someone's stealing Aunt P's recipes, I'm selling tickets to that showdown. Three things you should never do to a Southern woman – question her honor, hurt her kids, or steal her recipes. Anyway, I have one blue dot and two unknown greens. They seem to be somewhere in Kansas."

Everyone began looking at their maps. A couple of times, someone began to question the findings, but then shook their heads and shrugged. They knew Giles was right. If they started questioning everything now, they would never get done. If nothing else, growing up on one Hellmouth and living on another had assuredly taught them to roll with the weird.

"I guess I'll have to call my aunt," Tara smiled. "I have a purple dot in New York, so one of the cousins must have moved."

Oz shrugged. "A purple dot in Miami – no idea."

Willow nodded. "I have a green dot in Canada, near Toronto, but I have no idea either."

"I have three, count them, three green dots in San Francisco!" Xander grimaced.

"Hey, want to trade?" Faith snickered. "I have one blue dot and two green in Boston."

Cordelia sniffed. "I have no idea who some of these people are, but I have a couple of purple dots near Washington, D.C."

"As I previously noted, I appear to have a yellow dot in Scotland," Giles frowned.

Dawn looked around the table before turning to Giles and Buffy. "So, who's going first?"

The sound of a ringing bell began to echo through the room before anyone could answer. Buffy and Faith shot out of the room with Willow only a few steps behind. The others scrambled to catch up as they sprinted towards the operations room. While the library and the Scoobies may be the heart of the IDF, this was the central nervous center. From here they kept in constant contact, both magical and mundane, with their representatives around the world.

Three witches, two slayers, and two watchers were on duty around the clock. Given the international scope of the IDF, there was no other choice. Emergencies, requests for aid or simple messages all came to this room and would be dealt with accordingly. Every slayer, witch, watcher, support member, and ally had a direct line to this room by both phone and by way of a message crystal charged by Willow. For more normal needs, the phone was used. In a dire emergency, the person sending the warning knew the likelihood of rescue would be slim, so they would use the crystal. It would cause an alarm to go off at headquarters as well as recording any thoughts the carrier was concentrating on. When released by its holder after being activated, the crystal would be mystically transported to the operations room and a team would be dispatched. Teams and/or individuals being sent normally had to be approved by one of the Circle. It kept the knee-jerk reactions to a minimum. Allowances were made of course during apocalypse season.

Serenity knew it wasn't dire, or there would have been a siren. However, the sound of a bell meant that one of their people needed an outside opinion for something – something they thought had the potential to become a bigger threat, or something they just did not understand. When she reached the room, one of the slayers on duty, Vajra, was already reporting to Buffy and Faith.

"It's Kacela. She's visiting her grandmother. Apparently there's something setting off her senses. She can't find anything however – no disappearances, no unexplained deaths, nothing. In her opinion, either it's something that is keeping its head down, trying not to draw attention, or her senses have gone haywire."

"Either way, it's not of the good," Buffy frowned. "Faith, you've worked with her more. What's your take?"

"No way it's her senses, B," the dark-haired slayer shook her head. "She's one of the girls that Xan found in Africa. Her mom's with an embassy or something down there. Girl's one of the best trackers and hunters we've got. If she says something's there, it's there."

"Right then, where's she at?"

Dani, one of the witches, turned from her computer screen. "Her grandmother lives in Kansas, Lawrence to be precise."

"Powers are being a bit heavy-handed." Buffy rolled her eyes. "At least that gives us an answer."

Everyone frowned at her, confused, except for Giles. He gave a small quirk of a smile before turning to Serenity. "I believe that means you're first. Who would you like on your team?"


	2. Meeting the Brothers

_Author's Notes – The crossovers really begin here. Please remember – I own nothing._

**Chapter 2**

**Meeting the Brothers**

Serenity stumbled as Willow's spell deposited her in the backyard of a small house. Strong hands caught her before she could fall and she began mumbling under her breath as she found her balance. Low, soft chuckles drifted through the darkness. She straightened and turned to look at her team. Two women stood grinning at her – a slayer and a beta-level witch. With one slayer already in town, they should be able to handle anything a sleepy little place like Lawrence might throw at them. Faith insisted on sending one of her best fighters to balance Kacela's tracking abilities. Gabrielle, or Gabi, had an Amazon's form – five foot, eight inches with a lean, lanky build. At only seventeen, she already possessed a gift for leadership, as well as the patience required for a good teacher. In fact, Buffy and Giles planned to place her in a permanent teaching position after she finished her mandatory time in the field. The Grecian slayer had curly dark brown hair with a streak of pink at one temple. Black eyes and olive skin gave her an exotic look most men fell over themselves to compliment. She thought it was funny.

In contrast, their witch was of Finnish descent, and so fair she probably sunburned within minutes on a summer's day. Taika's straight white-blond hair topped a delicately built figure of four foot, nine inches. Instead of trying to fight her pale image, she played it up, dressing in white or light pastel clothing. This deliberate wash out drew attention to her unusual amber eyes with the overall effect giving her an unworldly, almost fae look she used to her advantage in keeping people and demons off balance. Tai's magic might not be in Willow or Tara's range, but she did possess extraordinary skills when working on the fly. Only Willow surpassed her in battlefield magic.

Hands planted on her hips, Serenity looked them over and smiled. "Don't either of you mention it to Willow, but I really hate teleporting. I always land on my butt."

The other two smirked, but the backdoor of the house opened before they could say anything. A young woman of five foot, two inches with caramel colored skin and black hair pulled back in cornrows stepped out to the patio. Her dark brown eyes swept across the three of them before coming to a stop on Serenity. The muscular, almost stocky twenty-year old gave a swift grin and waved them towards the house. "Are you attempting to be sneaky?"

They walked into the house, quiet laughter trailing behind them. The kitchen, while small, was decorated in a bright, cheerful design – all done up in an Americana style. A small, older black woman stood at the stove with spoon in hand. "Are you girls hungry? I've got some pancake batter all ready to go."

"Ma'am, you are now my favorite person in Kansas!" Serenity smiled. "No offense, ladies, but I didn't even have time to eat breakfast before we had to leave." The fact that her time had been taken up by a portal issue in Cluj-Napoca was neither here nor there. No one needed a door to an _Incendiu_ dimension opening in the heart of Europe.

"Then you lot take a seat at the table while I get the food ready. Now, I'm Kacie's great-grandmother, Rachel Jenkins, but family and friends call me Granny Rae. Don't you be thinking of doing any different." With a quick shooing motion, she gestured them to the table and turned back to the stove. Her movements were quick and precise as she literally threw breakfast together in less time than it took Serenity to make a sandwich.

Serenity looked around the room and she couldn't help but feel comfortable. It was obvious that Granny Rae took great pride in her home, her country and her heritage. "Ma'am?" A stern throat clearing had her choking back a giggle. Swiftly turning the noise into a cough, she tried again and got a nod of approval. "Granny Rae? I noticed you've got several of these antique figures. The…um…Mammy and Pappy figures...I believe that's what they're called?"

"I've got no call to be ashamed of my ancestors and what they did or went through." Granny Rae gave a smile over her shoulder as she cooked the pancakes. "Those figures represent a long held stereotype that finally fell by the wayside. Got nothing but pride for how far we've come."

"Do not get her started. She could go all day." Kacela grinned.

Granny Rae laughed and everyone joined in. After the pancakes were served along with some coffee, the older woman left the four of them in the kitchen declaring that she supported her granddaughter in whatever she chose to do, but she herself did not want to know. Kacela explained in between bites why she called for assistance. "The whole town has a slightly strange feel to it, but as you go further east, things start feeling darker. People look over their shoulders a little more often; they do not go out at night; that kind of thing. I expected to find something during patrol, but thus far I have found nothing. No strange deaths or disappearances, no attacks, nothing that might explain this feeling. After failing to find a trail during a few patrols, I figured it would be better to call for help. I did not want to walk into a trap by being overconfident."

"Good girl," Serenity nodded. "That's exactly what we want you to do. You won't do us any good if you get yourself killed. After we clean up, we'll take a walk and see if our senses pick up anything."

The kitchen had been returned to a spotless condition within the hour, and they began walking towards the east side of town. The four of them attracted some double takes during their rambling stroll. Tai and Serenity exchanged tolerant smiles while the other two began flirting with the men they passed. Tai shrugged, amusement filling her gaze. "Slayers."

Serenity nodded, blue eyes sparkling. "Always have to be starting something."

Gabi stuck her tongue out at the two of them as Kacela shrugged. "Jealous?"

The four of them laughed, but suddenly Tai shuddered and began looking around. She scanned the neighborhood they found themselves in with narrowed eyes. Her abrupt change in demeanor caused everyone to fall silent. The two slayers took up guard positions while Serenity closed her eyes and began to stretch out her own senses. _There. _Just a couple of houses away from them, on the other side of the street, she could sense an oily black knot of chaos on the psychic plain. She opened her eyes and stared at the location in question.

It was a simple two-story house sitting quietly in the middle of the neighborhood. Nothing unusual or sinister about it unless you counted the strangely shaped tree in the front yard that actually did give it a more ominous feel - especially for someone whose senses were Sunnydale-paranoid. The appearance did not matter. Something very, very bad lived in that house. She moved further up the street as the others trailed just behind her. Gabi and Kacela were careful to keep pace, holding Tai between them, ready to come to her aid if necessary. The four women came up beside a black car.

"We need to stop here."

Everyone looked to the pale witch. She fixed her eyes on the house, foreign phrases spilling out of her lips. Her pupils grew larger and larger until only a tiny ring of amber remained. Gabi, the tallest of them, moved to make sure she stayed in the shade, trying to limit the amount of damage the light might do to her eyes. With a jerk, the delicate figure pulled back, her eyes slamming shut as she slumped back into Kacela.

Serenity looked back towards the house before nodding to the others. "Let's get her back to the house. When she tells us what she picked up, we can figure out what to do next."

They nodded, and the four of them started back towards the middle of town. If they had remained a few moments longer, they would have seen two young men leaving the house, both of them looking unsteady and concerned.

The women gathered around the table once more a few hours later. Tai had returned to the house and fallen straight into sleep, leaving the other three at loose ends. Serenity sent the other two into the backyard to train and do some sparring to work off some of their nervous energy. She spent some of the time talking with Granny Rae before retreating to meditate and keep an eye on their witch. As the four of them sat down, Gabi handed Serenity a box.

"This appeared in the yard with a note from Willow."

"Thank you," she replied.

Opening the note, she read:

_"Rini,_

_According to your map, your brothers are in Lawrence right now too. Giles and Tara came up with a tracking device that you should be able to use to find them. It is in the box. You need to let three drops of your blood fall on the rose quartz stone. It will show small dots on the stone in the direction you should look._

_Good luck and let us know if you need any help._

_Willow"_

Serenity opened the box and lifted out an intricately designed bracelet with a large piece of smooth rose quartz mounted on top. She placed it on her left wrist and borrowed a knife from Kacela to prick her finger. Three drops of blood fell onto the stone and the deep red seemed to simply soak into the pale pink, disappearing slowly like a wisp of cloud in a lazy breeze. The stone flashed brightly three times before settling into a low, barely discernible glow. Two small green dots appeared on the surface, towards the right edge of the stone. She turned to her right and the dots shifted until they were at the top of the stone, indicating that she was now facing the direction of her brother's location.

She shook her head and looked at the others. "This promises to be a busy day."

Even Tai smiled a bit before clearing her throat. The others focused on her and she drew in a deep breath. "Something happened in that house a long time ago, maybe twenty years or so ago. Whatever it was, whatever happened, it has left a definite mark on that house. That mark attracting some dark things, and it managed to pull in a poltergeist – an extremely nasty sort of poltergeist. It wants that family dead."

"Gabi, go call headquarters," Serenity ordered with a frown. "Tell them we need to know how to vanquish a poltergeist."

Tai drew the remaining two's attention once more as Gabi went outside to make the call. "There is another spirit there. It is harder to pinpoint. I don't think its evil, but it is marked or tainted in some way. It is trying to help the family, but it's not being very successful right now. It seems much more limited. However, it felt me…whatever it is, it knew I was there and helped to shield my probe from the other. It pushed me towards another direction, somewhere in town. I think someone has some answers, but I didn't get a clear picture."

A soft cough interrupted the silence that had fallen. They turned and found Granny Rae in the doorway. She stepped inside and looked at them. "Now, I still don't want to know anything, but if you need more…information…about this kind of thing happening here in Lawrence, there's only one person to talk to. She's one of them palm-reader people, better than most, but … I still think it's a funny thing for a grown person to be doing. Doesn't sit just right with me or other church-going folks. However, I can't argue that she knows things, things you wouldn't expect. If you need answers on something here in town, you might go call on her. Her names Mosely, Missouri Mosely."

"Thank you, Granny Rae," Serenity smiled. "We'll look into it."

Giving a small nod, the older woman turned and walked back into the living room. Gabi came in with the news that someone would call back. "Right then," Serenity gestured for the others to follow her. "I think we need to go talk with this Ms. Mosely. Let's not leave anything to chance if we can help it."

The four women walked to the address Granny Rae had found for them. Gabi frowned as they approached the house. A familiar black car sat in front of it. "Isn't that the same car we saw this morning?"

"Yes, it certainly is," Serenity's eyes narrowed. "Interesting little coincidence." They exchanged glances and she lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. "If you believe in them."

They walked up to the front door and gave a collective wince as they noticed the sign – _Please come in and have a seat._ Kacela put their shared feelings into words. "You'd think she'd know better, being psychic and all."

Each of them examined the house with their own unique senses or powers. Someone gifted lived here – there were certain protections and shields built into the decorations and even the walls themselves. Not enough, and certainly not as encompassing as those around the school, but it wasn't the house of the supernaturally ignorant either. They heard some low talking coming from a back room, but as they closed the door behind them, a woman's voice broke off and silence reigned for a moment. Serenity sensed pain, old pain, and sorrow coming from that direction. All of them heard the harsh intake of breath before quick footsteps echoed in the hallway. A woman with a no-nonsense expression but kind eyes hurried into their midst. Without stopping to ask or say anything, she focused on Serenity and moved toward her. The others moved to stop her, but Serenity sensed no threat. She waved them back and allowed the stranger to take her hand.

The woman's eyes went wide and vague for a long moment. Serenity kept her mental walls strong but allowed the contact to continue. Finally the woman came back to herself, dropped her hand and began muttering under her breath. "Well, if this doesn't beat all. This could change everything…maybe."

Two young men came out of the back and looked over the situation as the woman continued muttering to herself. The shorter of the two men appeared to be the elder, at least based on what Serenity could see. He had the "older sibling" look – constantly keeping himself between the taller fellow and the rest of the room. It wasn't possessive like a lover, but she could feel the link between the two. They had to be brothers. The younger appeared more open, but she could feel a sharp sorrow clinging to him while the older had more of an ache – not so sharp any more, but it felt like he would prod the bruise every now and then to keep it from fully healing.

The younger brother spoke up. "Everything okay in here?"

Tai's voice broke in before anyone could answer. "Rini, your bracelet."

She glanced at the smaller woman and then down at her bracelet. The rose quartz glowed and the dots were gone. She frowned and her head snapped around to look at the brothers once more. She shook her head. "Oh you have got to be kidding."

The psychic they had come to visit stopped muttering and turned to her. A smirk lit the dark brown eyes as the woman looked from one brother to the next before settling on Serenity. "I'm afraid not, soul-seer. Somebody, and I doubt it's those powers that be a pain in everyone's behind, somebody is working overtime. They're on a schedule, and they are going to make damn sure you stay on it. Dean, Sam, I'm sorry, there's no easy way to say this, but it's a truth I'm about to be telling you. I'd prefer you not shoot the messenger." Serenity tried to interrupt, but the woman bulldozed right over her objections. The two men moved forward, frowning in confusion. "You two come on in here and meet your sister."

"Bullshit."

The single word from the elder of the two men brought amused sounds from the three youngest women. Serenity lifted an eyebrow as her lips twitched. The older woman, who must be Ms. Moseley, planted her fists on her hips and glared. "Dean Winchester, you watch your mouth in my house!"

As the two glared at one another, Serenity leaned against the wall and looked over the two men. The eldest, Dean, stood about six foot tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. With his narrowed eyes and hard mouth, he radiated a strong will and suspicious outlook. She let her senses drift out, not probing or violating but just getting a feel for him. Tension vibrated around him. He had already been tense, long before they came along, but now he practically glowed with distrust. She was fairly certain the beat up leather jacket hid at least one weapon.

"Dean, man, calm down."

Her attention shifted to the taller, but younger brother…Ms. Moseley had called him Sam. Sam, then, looked to be almost half a foot taller than his brother. His shaggy, lighter brown hair fell into shadowed green eyes. Although he appeared more open, she could feel the sharp pain he held. He did not trust the situation much more than his brother, but he was willing to hear everyone out. While she doubted either of them lacked in brains, this one would be the sharper intelligence, ready to pick apart a discussion with logic. Dean would be more instinctive, trusting his gut above logic.

"C'mon, Sam, think about what she said! Dad would never have…hell; he'd have made sure there wasn't a kid!"

She shook her head and huffed out a breath. She crossed her arms, tilted her head back, and glared up at the ceiling. "If this is supposed to be funny, I'm less than impressed with the timing."

Her companions laughed, but the two men frowned at her. Sam shifted forward. "Who exactly are you complaining to?"

"The PTB's," she replied glibly.

"The who?" he asked in confusion.

Her eyes took on a look of exasperated amusement. "PTB's – the Powers That Be. They're being a bit heavy handed lately."

Ms. Moseley shook her head. "No, girl child, those meddlers aren't responsible for this. It's a friendlier power trying to get things in place for you."

"Friendlier?" Serenity blinked before giving a small sarcastic chuckle. "That'd be new."

Dean cleared his throat impatiently. "Excuse me? Back over here? Somebody want to explain what the hell is going on?"

Sam grimaced, but nodded. "And the Powers That Be? Be what?"

The younger women started giggling. Serenity glanced over at them and smiled. Shaking her head, she waved them outside. "Kacela, Gabi, you two go spar in the backyard or something. Keep the noise down – there's no reason to go scaring the neighbors. Tai, go with them, but see if the folks back home have figured anything out. Oh, and lose the sign out front. It's giving me the heebies." Ms. Moseley frowned. Serenity sighed and explained, "The sign tells people to come right in. That can be taken as an invitation over your threshold, and believe me when I say there are whole species who shouldn't be invited in."

Ms. Moseley led her remaining guests back into her sitting room. Serenity perched on one of the chairs as Dean and Sam sat together on the couch. Her blue eyes examined them for a long moment. Finally, as they began shifting, she smiled. "The Powers That Be…they're meddlers. They play a great chess game with human lives, all in the name of keeping the balance – the balance between light and dark, good and evil. If evil is getting too strong, a Champion arrives to handle it. If good is getting too strong, some Big Bad hits town and shakes things up. They are pretty much a pain."

"But what are they?"

"Who knows? They definitely think we are below them, but I sincerely doubt they're angels."

"Yeah, interesting," Dean snorted, "but let's get back to this other little issue. There's no way Dad wouldn't have taken precautions, so you seriously think you can come in here claiming…"

"Stop, just stop right there." She threw up her right hand, palm out and fingers spread wide. "Let's get something straight. I didn't come to this house looking for you two. Until Ms. Moseley there started talking, I had one topic to discuss and it certainly didn't revolve around you. Now, first, I didn't claim anything – she's the one that started spouting off. Second, unless you are older than you look, I believe I'm the eldest. Finally, there's no reason to get ticky with me – I'm just the outcome, I had nothing to do with the conception."

Both men gaped at her for a moment, before Dean snickered. Sam rolled his eyes. She gave them a quick grin. Dean shook his head, quirking an eyebrow. "Well, at least you're funny. Okay, let's say she's right. How'd this happen? Why didn't Dad ever say anything?"

As both sets of eyes focused on her, she sighed. "Please don't tell me you need the lecture on the birds and the bees?" This time, it was Sam who snickered. Dean pushed him over with one hand as he leveled a gaze on her. She tilted her head and lifted a single eyebrow. His gaze morphed into a pained look. Smiling, she continued. "Okay, in a nutshell then - my mom was an art student, and one night she went to a party with some friends. Some military guys were there. They were on break, or finishing up, or whatever. One of them brought a friend who was spending a single night in Los Angeles before heading to the heartland. Basic, first name introductions were made, beer started flowing, and fun was had. The next day, Mom went back to school and found out several weeks later that she had a present from that one night. When it came to the father? She only knew that he was a Marine and his name was John. She decided to keep the baby, and finally, months later, hey presto, congratulations – it's a girl!"

The room stayed silent for a long few moments after she finished. She could see various thoughts and emotions shooting across their faces. They did not want to believe it, but their instincts were reacting to her. She could feel it in herself as well. There was something about both of them, something pinging her radar. These men were hers, blood and bone; they were a part of her.

Ms. Moseley leaned forward. "Boys, I know you're confused, but I promise, she is telling the truth. There's no hint of a lie on her."

Dean leaned back, head falling back against the cushions, while Sam leaned forward, arms resting on his thighs as he stared at Serenity. She remained quiet, wanting to give them an opportunity to think. Dean sighed, but continued looking at the ceiling. "Don't take this wrong, but this is not turning out to be my day."

"Oh, you should be having my week!" She actually managed a chuckle. "I just found out I had two more siblings quite literally yesterday. Then one of our people figures out there's a problem here and we came to investigate. What happens next? Oh, we've got a house with an innocent family and one seriously nasty poltergeist. When we try and find some information? I just happen to trip over two men who happen to be related to me. If the PTB's aren't pulling the strings, somebody else is playing a very heavy game."

Both men had straightened during her speech.

"Poltergeist?"

"What house?"

Their words overlapped and she frowned at them. Her eyes narrowed. "Let me get the others. We only want to go over this once."

When she returned, the three younger women positioned themselves around her. The Slayers made sure they were in place to protect both her and Tai. She smiled at them before turning back to the rest of the room.

"You were at the house earlier today, or one of its neighbors. We saw your car."

Dean frowned. "Two-story house, SUV in the drive and an odd tree in the front?"

"That's the one," she nodded. "Tai and I could sense something dark, black and oily about it. Tai scanned it a bit deeper, and discovered that there is definitely a poltergeist. And it's a nasty one – it wants that family dead."

"Sense?" "Scanned?" Dean and Sam's voices overlapped.

Serenity blinked at them. "I'm an empath," she replied calmly. "Tai is a witch." They stared at her, mouths falling open slightly - probably at how easily she answered their questions. Her lips curved in a small smile. "We're talking seriously about a haunted house while sitting in a room with a psychic. Please tell me you are not going to be weird about a witch or someone who is psi-gifted?"

"Just not used to people being so…upfront," Dean pointed out cautiously.

"Not much reason to hide, is there?"

Tai leaned forward, interrupting the staring match. "I could feel the spirit. It was drawn there. Something happened in that house. It felt like it was older, maybe twenty years or so ago. Whatever it was, it left a definite mark on that house, and it's drawing darker things. We need to remove the poltergeist, but we also need to cleanse the mark. Otherwise, this will happen again."

Serenity pursed her lips and glanced at the other women. "Did we hear anything from home?"

The small blond nodded. "Yes, we'll need some ingredients, but we can do this."

Dean cleared his throat. "We'll do this."

"Of course," Serenity smiled at him, "but we'll be helping." He frowned, but nodded after Sam nudged him.

They gathered the needed supplies and began putting together sachets of cleansing. Dean sniffed over some of the items. "So, what is all this stuff, anyway?"

"Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends." Ms. Moseley answered.

"Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?"

Ms. Mosely gave him a look. "We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house."

"We'll be putting holes in the drywall." Serenity shook her head. "The mother's going to love that."

"And this will destroy the spirits?" Sam frowned.

The older woman nodded. "It should. It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad. I'll talk to Jenny."

After convincing the family to leave, they split up to cover the entire house. Gabi accompanied Ms. Moseley to the basement while Tai and Kacela followed Sam upstairs. Dean and Serenity tried to do their job on the first floor as quickly as possible, leaving the kitchen for last. He began to knock a hole in the wall when a slight hiss of sound drew their attention. They turned just as a knife floated out of an open drawer. It abruptly soared in their direction.

Both of them ducked instinctively, staring at the knife buried in a cabinet above their heads. Dean knocked over a table and they took shelter as more knives began to fly. She felt a multilayered burst of panic from the other teams, but relief followed too quickly for her to react. If she had to guess, she would presume the poltergeist tried to attack all of them at the same time, only to be outwitted by team efforts.

It always pays to have backup.

Dean muttered a curse as something new embedded itself in the table. He took a breath, rushed forward, and kicked a hole in the wall. Serenity shoved the sachet into it. A sudden bright white light exploded throughout the house, leaving a deep silence behind as it faded. Slowly the group began to gather in the kitchen.

"Is that it?" Gabi looked around warily.

Sam shrugged and glanced at Ms. Mosely. "You sure this is over?"

"I'm sure," Ms. Moseley nodded. "Why? Why do you ask?"

He frowned and sighed. "Never mind. It's nothing. I guess."

Jenny and her children returned as they were cleaning the mess left by the poltergeist. Ms. Moseley spoke with her for a few minutes before going home, but IDF team felt restless. Something felt unfinished. Sam seemed to have the same opinion, so he and Dean decided to stay in the car outside the house just to keep an eye on things. The four women discussed the situation, and they decided Serenity would stay with the guys while the other three did some patrolling nearby.

In the car, Dean shifted around. "All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doing here?"

"I don't know." Sam's eyes flickered from Dean to the house and back again. "I just…I still have a bad feeling."

"Why?" His brother looked at him. "Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing; the house should be clean. It should be over."

"Yeah, well, probably. But I just want to make sure, that's all."

Dean shifted again with a groan. "Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now."

"Would you both please hush?" Serenity huffed. "I'm trying to get some sleep while Sam has watch. Honestly, how long have you been in this business?"

Before Dean could retort, Sam's eyes locked on the upper floor of the house.

"Dean. Look, Dean!" Jenny pounded on a window, mouth open in an unheard scream.

The three of them jumped out of the car and tore into the house. Dean ran to get Jenny while Sam went for the children. Serenity planted herself in the living room and focused all of her talent on the poltergeist itself. Unlike most empaths, whose powers tended to be a passive sensing type thing, she held the full gift. Not only could she sense emotions, reading them like a book, but she could also use them – focusing them into a message…or a weapon. Poltergeists were a strange sort of spirit. They were not echoes of souls or imprints of personalities. They were actually the embodiment of the dark emotions – anger, pain, and fear. She didn't have much chance in dispersing it, not one this old, but she might be able to keep it busy until the others were safely out.

She could hear Dean hauling Jenny out of the house, and then Sam came downstairs with the kids. She could feel the spirit fighting her hold. There was no mind, no soul here to pause and reflect…there was no _person_ for her to manipulate. It was going to escape before too long. She listened to Sam as he spoke.

"All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don't look back."

Even as the children watched, an invisible force lashed out and Serenity flew into the wall. It grabbed Sam and dragged him into another room. The children fled. Serenity forced herself to stand, grimacing against the throbbing of her ribs, and followed. She could hear Dean banging on the front door, but she ignored him as she attempted to reach Sam. The poltergeist had him pinned up against the wall. It didn't look like he could move.

She moved forward only to be pushed back once again. "Damn it," she muttered before starting forward once more. A flash of fire caught her attention. It was another figure, humanoid in shape, but completely covered in flames. Despite its fiery appearance, she didn't feel any threat. This had to be the second spirit Taika talked about.

It began moving towards Sam.

At that moment, Dean tore into the room, rifle at the ready. He raised the gun as the figure moved closer.

"No, don't! Don't!" Sam's voice held a pleading quality to it.

Both Dean and Serenity turned to look at Sam incredulously. Dean frowned. "What, why?!"

Sam's voice softened, "Because I know who it is. I can see her now."

The fire began to die down, and a human face slowly appeared. The last of the flames disappeared, leaving a beautiful young woman in a nightgown. Serenity reeled from the level of shock emanating from the men. The ghostly woman moved first towards Dean.

"Mom?" His voice nearly broke.

"Dean." She smiled before moving away from him and turning to Sam. "Sam…I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sam smiled through his tears.

A sad smile touched the pale lips and she turned away to look at Serenity. The woman gave her a penetrating, yet entreating stare. "Watch over your brothers. They'll need you."

With that, she turned away from all of them. She looked up at the ceiling and her voice hardened.

"You get out of my house. And let go of my son."

The flames engulfed her again, flaring to the ceiling before collapsing, disappearing. The force holding Sam to the wall vanished and he slid down. Dean and Serenity drew closer to Sam, and the three of them looked at each other, stunned at what they had just witnessed. The two men exchanged a long, speaking glance before turning their gazes on her. Serenity realized that the last words of their mother sealed everything for them. They accepted her now…or at least they were willing to try.

The trio walked outside, tired and weary. Dean and Sam talked to Missouri, Jenny and the kids, wanting to get everything settled so they could leave town quickly. Serenity sent her group off with some instructions for Willow. Her ribs ached from being tossed around by the poltergeist, and she had no intention of teleporting. She would get the boys to drop her at the bus station. The other three grumbled and groused, but she held her ground.

Tai finally started walking away with a sniff, mumbling under her breath. "Willow's going to turn me into a rat."

Gabi and Kacela both snorted, and Kacela grimaced. "Feel happy – at least she'll keep you safe and fed. Faith is going to kick our ass and that'll still be before Buffy gets a hold of us!"

"Or Giles." Gabi nodded.

Serenity watched them slouch off before slowly turning back to see the two brothers…_her_ two brothers walking towards her. Sam frowned over her head at the leaving girls and Dean twitched an eyebrow in her direction. "Where're they headed?"

"Off to make a couple of calls and taking the quick route home. I'm a bit too bruised for that, so I was hoping I could talk you into dropping me at the bus station. I'll ride home." She gave them a bright, hopeful smile.

They exchanged a long, speaking look. Her lips curved in amusement as she watched them trade ideas with only their eyes; the communication almost seemed telepathic. When Sam shrugged and nodded, Dean turned to her with a huff. "We're not dropping you at some station. Where's home for you?"

She frowned at him, her blue eyes serious as they locked with his hazel. "Dean, I'm headed for Cleveland. You don't have to take me home."

"We'll take you." He started toward the car, his voice resolute in its finality.

She gave Sam a confused glance, and then followed him. "Dean, you know, I'm perfectly fine if you two want to take some time before plunging headlong into the insanity that is my life. You two have had enough thrown at you without adding the mess I live with. You don't even know what that is! You don't have any real proof that I'm your sister. I mean, I am, Willow's magic proves that, but I don't mind if you need more proof than a stranger's magic and Missouri's word."

He did not answer for a few moments as he moved to the driver's door. Instead of opening it, he leaned on the hood. He stared at her and she could see the conflict and sorrow in his gaze. His lips thinned and then he took a deep breath. "You have Dad's frown. When puzzled, your eyes have the same look, if not color, as Sam's. Hell, you even tilt your head in the exact same way as you're figuring something out. That's just what I've seen in the past few hours. Mom…" He stopped and looked away, glaring at the house one last time. She exchanged a glance with Sam before they both pretended not to notice the glitter of moisture. "Mom confirmed it, too. There's not a lot I'm willing to take on face value, but I'll go out on a limb on this one."

"You've got Dean's grin." Sam shifted as both of them turned to look at him. He shrugged and turned a deep green gaze on her. She almost stepped back, startled by the sincerity he managed to pour into that intent look. "Let us take you home."

Serenity blinked off her surprise and shook her head. She cast her eyes at the sky above her head. "Not another one with those damn puppy eyes!" Sam's lips twitched, but he managed to force them into a small pout as Dean buried his head in his arms to hide the grin. She turned back to them both and gave a brilliant smile. "All right, I'll let you drive me home, but we are stopping halfway so I can get some decent sleep, and I pick the hotel."

Dean snorted and opened his door. "Just so you know – driver picks the music."

Sam rolled his eyes, even as she climbed into the backseat. As he got in, he glanced back at her. "I hope you have some ear plugs."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Now she rolled her eyes. "Is this normal for you?" They both looked back at her and grinned. She pinched the bridge of her nose, grimacing. "Oh, great."

Both men began laughing and she joined in. Dean started the car and drove down the street while she borrowed a phone from Sam. He frowned at her. "Don't you have one?"

"I slipped it into Gabi's pocket." She gave him a conspiratorial grin. "Once they get home, Willow will send it to me, but it'll be too late to try and talk me into coming back with the others."

Dean sent her a frown to match Sam's in the rearview mirror, but held his comment as she dialed out. It only took two rings for someone to snatch up the phone.

"Rini?"

She winced. "Delia. . ."

That was all it took.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cordelia demanded. "The others say you were injured. You need to come home and have Tara take a look at you. You don't need to be traipsing around on some rickety old bus that will probably break down halfway to Cleveland. Given our luck, some band of wandering…."

She held the phone away from her ear as Cordelia continued venting. Sam looked back with amusement as his brother snorted. She shook her head and spoke softly. "Delia hates it when we get injured, but she doesn't express it the way most do."

As the other woman's voice began to wind down, Serenity raised the phone back to her ear. "Did you get it out of your system?"

She could hear the younger woman huff out a breath. "For the moment. However, Giles is muttering under his breath, while Willow, Buffy and Faith are scowling at the three you sent home alone."

"First of all, tell Giles to calm down; I'm only bruised. Second, I'm not actually on a bus – the brothers are bringing me home, and I'm sure they'll keep an eye on me." Dean gave her a direct stare in the mirror. She made a face at him. "Third, tell the other three to settle themselves – I gave orders and the girls followed them like they were supposed to. We'll be stopping halfway between here and Cleveland for the night, so I'll need some stuff. You and Buffy would have a better idea of what I want, but she'll try and pack a silly number of weapons, so would you mind packing me a bag?"

"Of course not. You'll be home tomorrow though, right?"

"Yes, so it'll just need to be an overnight bag. I promise, Delia, I'm fine. Would you give Tara the phone?"

There was a brief moment of silence and then a soft voice came across the line.

"Hey, Rini."

"Hi, Glinda."

The giggle made her smile.

"Would you mind putting some of your bruise medicine in the bag Delia is packing for me? My ribs are bruised, but don't worry – nothing's cracked. I'm only a bit sore."

Tara agreed. "All right, if you're sure. I'll go help her get it together. Do you want to talk to one of the others?"

"Who's the least ticked?" she asked with a laugh.

Another giggle came across the line before she heard the phone being passed along.

"Sera."

"Oz; everything okay?"

"Good; you?" Oz's was quiet, controlled.

Knowing how her friend's mind worked, she replied soothingly, "Just bruises, no more."

"What do you need?" he asked.

"A hotel in Indiana and my bag should do it." She could hear typing on a keyboard as she waited in silence. After a few moments, she could hear the soft growl coming across. She sighed. "Oz." The typing stopped and she continued in the calmest voice she possessed. Dawn called it her "den mother" voice – the voice she used to contain the pack when they got rowdy. "I'm fine. There are some bruises, and I'll get plenty of rest when I get home. These two guys know what they're doing, and they'll keep me safe. It was nothing major – simply a ghost with an attitude. Everyone needs to calm down."

She heard him take a deep breath. "Sera, we don't like it when you get hurt."

"I know. I'm not fond of it either, but we all know it happens. Above all else, I need you calm. You have to keep Willow grounded. A little bruising does not call for a visit by the Red Witch."

"Right." The typing started up again. "There is a hotel just south of Interstate 70 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Will that work?"

"Let me check." Holding the phone to her shoulder, she met Dean's gaze. "Terre Haute, Indiana sound like a good stopping place?" He nodded and she went back to the phone. "Okay, Oz, get two rooms…"

Dean cleared his throat. She looked up to meet another dark expression. Sam smirked at her before turning to peer out the window. Huffing out a breath, she stuck her tongue out. "Scratch that. Make it one room with two queens."

A light chuckle echoed in her ears as someone took the phone away from him.

"Are you quite all right, my dear girl?"

"Hey, Giles, I'm fine. Really. It was nothing major, but you know me and teleporting."

"Yes, I know," he replied, his soft British accent laced with humor. "Cordelia and Tara should have your bag prepared shortly, so we can arrange to send it to you when you reach your hotel. I would hand the phone to your sisters, but Dawn is in town and I made Buffy and Faith go down to the gym to work out some of their aggression."

"Should I ask what Willow is doing?" she asked curiously.

He gave a quiet laugh. "She is being ever so gently maneuvered into calming down by both Xander and Oz."

"Good. I'll call you as soon as we reach the hotel."

"Please. Before I let you go, however, Gabi says you found them."

She laughed. "Yes, I did. Not that I actually had to look – they were dealing with the same situation that Kacela was. Giles, they're…in the business."

For a long moment, he said nothing. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his mind. "They…are hunters?"

"Yes."

"Well, that should certainly make some things easier."

"Boy I hope so. I'll give them the basic overview tonight at the hotel."

He gave a tiny sniff. "That should be interesting."

"Gee, Giles, thanks ever so."

They exchanged a few more words before she bade him farewell and hung up the phone. Handing it back to Sam, she leaned back against the leather seat and let her gaze flicker from one brother to the next. Taking a deep breath, she looked over to Dean. "All right, when we get settled at the hotel, I'll be giving you a brief history from my side of the tracks. In the meantime, why don't the two of you tell me your story? You know, when you got into this business…why you got into this business? I know it had something to do with your mom, but I'd like to fill in the blanks."

Silence reigned for several long minutes as the men did their telepathy thing again. She did not speak, letting them decide for themselves without any further pressure from her. Whatever had happened had scarred both men deeply. She could feel the pain, old and new, grief, and sorrow currently swirling around the two of them. Finally, Dean hitched one shoulder and Sam took a deep breath as he turned slightly to meet her eyes.

"It started when I was six months old."

For the next couple of hours, they told her about their mother's death at the hands of a yellow-eyed demon, their father's quest for vengeance, and their growing up years. She was sad, horrified, and amused by turn. Finally they came to more recent happenings, especially Jess's death, their father's disappearance, and Sam's new psychic gifts.

When he confessed to some concern over the ability, she shook her head. "If you weren't concerned, then I would be. It's possible the gift has always been there and repressed. We've met other hunters during our work, and quite a few of them have the 'kill-anything-supernatural' mindset. And I get why, but it doesn't help when dealing with psychics. These abilities are tools, and that's all – they are good and bad only because someone uses them in either a good or bad way. You may have instinctively repressed it to avoid standing out and when you began relaxing at college you eventually relaxed these shields as well."

They mulled this over while she watched the scenery speed by. Even as her eyes thought about drifting closed, Dean broke the silence. "You know, you keep talking about how we're reacting to everything. What about you? You're just taking this all in stride. Don't you think family coming out of the woodwork is strange? Especially demon-hunting, vision-having family members?"

She gave a bright laugh. "Oh, please, wait until you hear the story tonight. This doesn't even begin to ping the surreal-o-meter of my life. I knew the man who raised me wasn't my father. I certainly didn't expect to find my biological father had become celibate or something. So the fact that he had kids? That's not really a surprise. The fact that you go demon hunting for a living and one of you is a psi-gifted? Hopefully that will make my big reveal easier…well, as long as you tell me you don't go killing everything that's slightly off normal."

"Not with Sammy here having his thing going on."

"It's Sam."

"Right. Sammy."

She leaned back and mock-glared at the rearview mirror. "Wonderful. First I get a couple of pain-in-the-neck, sarcastic, get-into-trouble-at-the-drop-of-a-hat sisters on Mom's side. And now, on the other side, I pick up a couple of pain-in-the-neck, sarcastic, get-into-trouble-at-the-drop-of-a-hat brothers. What did I do? Piss someone off in a past life?"

Chuckles and smirks emerged from the front seats, and she grinned in return. The car settled into a contented silence as they continued their drive towards evening and her side of the story.

Later that evening, after checking into the hotel, Serenity smiled as she watched the men set up their protective wards around the hotel room. Teasing remarks and barbs shot between them despite the seriousness with which they approached their task. Her smothered giggles only seemed to encourage them. When they were finally satisfied with the room, they joined her at the table and began to dig into the fast food they had picked up before stopping.

Dean focused on her as he unwrapped his burger. "Your turn to talk."

She sighed and leveled a half-hearted glare in his direction before nodding. They had been good natured about her overnight bag popping in out of nowhere, and the time she spent in the shower. Although they had been twitchy about the protections she set up using Willow's crystals, they had not interfered.

"All right, I guess you're right. It's time. So, Scooby 101."

"Huh?" Sam frowned.

She shook her head. "Let me get started and you can ask questions later." Both men nodded, and she took a deep breath. "Since you both already know about the things that go bump in the night, we can skip the first couple of chapters. I told you I have two younger sisters? The story starts when sister number one was fifteen years old. Buffy…" Dean snorted, and Sam stared at her with wide eyes. She rolled her eyes and glared. "Yes, Mom named her Buffy. She also named me Serenity and our baby sister is Dawn. Mom was a Californian art student."

Both men grinned and nodded.

"Anyway, Buffy was the epitome of the California teenage girl at the time – a bubbly blond cheerleader whose greatest concern was what to wear to the next dance and which guy to let take her. One day, she was approached by, in her words, a creepy old guy with a funny accent."

For the next hour or so, she continued explaining her sister's introduction into the world of vampires, shifters, and others night crawlers. She covered pretty much the entire beginning – the Slayer, Merrick, and Lothos. Despite the occasional raised eyebrow or sideways glance, neither of them interrupted. They simply took in the story. Finally, she wound down to the week of that last dance at Hemery High.

"Although Buffy kept everything secret from Mom and Hank, they'd caught her sneaking in a time or two. Hank wanted to ground her, while Mom was worried about teenage rebellion. When Buffy agreed to call me, Mom backed down. I was away at college, on the other side of the country, when she called me and spilled the whole story." She paused for a moment, a faraway look coming into her eyes. She could still recall every word of that phone call. "Needless to say, I thought she had lost it, or that one of her friends had spiked her drink with something. Still, it's not every day I had my "cool" sister crying down the phone line at me. I had enough space that I decided to take off and come home for a long weekend. I walked into a mess."

Dean shifted, leaning on the table. "What happened?"

"What didn't?" She huffed. "Mom and Hank were gone on a short vacation when I got home. My sister, manic and upset, dragged me to a cemetery that night to prove she'd been telling the truth. Let me tell you, it's really hard to dispute when you're covered in vamp dust. After we got home and cleaned up, she fell apart on me." She bowed her head, remembering that night. Merrick was dead, and her only support came from a slacker called Pike and a rather shell-shocked older sister. Still, they had managed. "Between the three of us, we managed to get the vampires trapped in the gym and burned it down. The gym did not really have any windows, and only three doors. It was easy with three of us to make sure the fires spread quickly and blocked all three exits. The biggest problem came after that – Pike and I were both legally adults. If we took the blame, we looked at serious jail time for arson. Buffy, being a minor and no previous record of any kind of trouble would have an easier time. Vampire ash doesn't show up in DNA records – the authorities really thought she was desperate for attention. And it almost worked."

Sam frowned. "Almost?"

"The authorities were willing to go with a slap on the wrist, but Hank wasn't. Buffy broke down telling them about the gym, and confessed the real reason for the fire. Needless to say, neither took it well, and Hank…well, he had her…he actually had her committed."

There was silence in the room as she paused, remembering that time. That had been the breaking point of her mom's marriage. Hank had been embarrassed by the whole thing, while their mom blamed herself. Serenity kept herself busy by avoiding Hank, supporting her mom, visiting her sister at the hospital, and helping Pike get out of town when the police started looking into his actions. Explaining this, she turned to the aftermath. "Anyway, Buffy convinced the doctors that she had been feeling neglected and acting out just to get attention. They bought it – the whole thing. Mom decided to get the divorce and wanted to move out of Los Angeles. I went back to school long enough to take finals, and then we spent that summer trying to get everything finished. As it timed out, I was back in school when they moved between semesters during her sophomore year. Mom chose a town about two hours north of LA – Sunnydale."

Dean tilted his head, eyes perplexed. "That sounds familiar…"

Sam nodded. "Wasn't that the town that collapsed in some kind of earthquake or sinkhole?"

"That's the 'real world' explanation," she replied. They frowned and she gave a quick smile. "Let me explain about Sunnydale. Sunnydale was founded in 1899 by a guy named Richard Wilkins. He went out of his way to convince people to move to the town. With apparently limitless resources, he turned the town into a showplace for the time – all "modern" conveniences, a beach and port at the Pacific, et cetera. However, he left one little thing out of his brochure. Sunnydale sits directly on top of a Hellmouth."

"A what?" Dean twitched and peered at her from beneath lowered eyebrows.

"A Hellmouth," she continued, "or as the first Spanish settlers called it, Boca del Infierno – basically, it is place where the boundaries between this dimension and another are very, very thin. Mystical and supernatural energies converge there, and for the supernaturally inclined, it is Disneyland, Broadway, and Hollywood all wrapped up in one. Every spooky, creepy, crawly thing you can come up with visited sooner or later."

The two young men exchanged looks before turning back to her and Sam shifted to stretch out his long legs. "How did Buffy handle finding that out?"

"Not well, at least, not at first. This was supposed to be her new start, so she was trying to put everything that had happened behind her. Problem with that? The Slayer gig doesn't come with an out-clause. She was still the Slayer, and she couldn't ignore it for long. Luckily, she didn't have to do it alone. She made friends that ended up joining the cause. I'm not going to get into everything that happened…it'd take too long. We've really got to put some kind of manual together." Her brothers gave her matching expressions of amusement. She smirked back at them. "Trust me, it'd save time if we could just give people a book and let them read the basics. Anyway, you do need to hear about the current inner circle of people and some basic ground rules. We're all Sunnydalers, so I'll give you a little bit on all of them. Hopefully that will help." Her eyes narrowed in thought. "The first person Buffy really met was a girl by the name of Cordelia Chase. Delia was the Queen of the social scene despite being a mere sophomore. She was nice to Buffy, mainly because she came from LA, for all of about two hours before Buffy fell out of favor, and it took a while before the two of them actually became friends. Delia's powers manifested when during their senior year. She's like Sam, a seer."

Her brothers exchanged another look – Dean's cautious and Sam's hopeful. She smiled. "She gets visions, and the occasional prophecy. She had planned on leaving town after graduation, but when her ability came online, she changed her mind and decided to stay with us. By the way, one thing to remember about Delia – she is extremely proud of her tactless honesty. She is going to give you her honest opinion on everything, whether you like it or not, want it or not."

Dean snorted and Sam grinned. She stood and stretched before digging out a bottle of water from the small refrigerator in the room. The guys cleaned up the food mess and she moved to sit on the bed. Pulling up her legs in a cross-legged position, she waited for the guys to join her. Sam sprawled out on the neighboring bed, leaning up against the wall while Dean pulled one of the plush chairs close and propped his feet up on the end of her bed.

"The first person that Buffy really made friends with though was Willow Rosenberg. At the time, Willow was one of the shyest girls on campus, but also one of the smartest. She has changed quite a bit over the years, but she is still one of our geniuses, and occasionally breaks out in shyness. Do not underestimate her though – those who would know have classified her as the most powerful single witch in the Northern Hemisphere, if not on the planet." She paused and then continued. "I should warn you – Willow has a strong, strong dislike of guns." Dean frowned, but she forestalled any remark with a headshake. Massaging her temples with her fingers, she frowned. "About four years ago now I guess, Willow found out she was pregnant. While it was not exactly planned, she decided to keep the baby. She and Buffy were both shot when she was about six months along. Willow lost the baby – a girl. She went a bit crazy for a while."

Sam grimaced. "Understandable."

"Yes, that's true," she made a face, "but with someone of Willow's power, it's dangerous. She healed much too quickly using magic, and went off the rails. She came within a few breaths of ending the world." They gaped at her. "Yes, she is that powerful. Fortunately, we had an ace on our side - her best friend from childhood. He could reach her when no one else had a chance. That would be Xander Harris. His real name is Alexander, but he does NOT answer to it. Xander…is unique, and that is saying something for us. When Buffy met him, he was the class clown, and not the cool kind either – more the "geek" kind. While he still uses wit and humor to help keep things rolling, he has really grown into his strengths. He's called the "One Who Sees" because he has this ability to see to the heart of a person or a situation. He's one of our "generals" – one of the few trusted to lead our people in a fight."

Her eyes sparkled in amusement even as her voice took on a hint of warning. "Xander is the best friend of every one of the girls in our organization – he lets us cry on his shoulder, fixes our problems, and never fails to tell us how gorgeous we are. Do not mess with him. You'll piss us off. Oh, and I should warn you, he's a...well, for lack of a better word, he's a magnet. He will attract the most dangerous, most powerful, or most unusual women around."

Now Sam looked bewildered. "Say what?"

"Someone will be more than happy to give you specifics later," she snickered, "but he's been pursued by women of the slayer, vampire, mummy, demon, shape shifter, succubus, witch, and fae kind. If they are too young, they all want him to be their big brother. If they are too old, they all want to take him home and feed him up right. Given his dating history, he has a check-in process for his dates."

Dean nearly toppled out of his chair from laughing so hard. The other two echoed him. Finally catching his breath after a few minutes, he wiped his eyes and mumbled. "Check-in process!"

She mirrored his grin and shrugged. "It's safer that way. Okay, next is Rupert Giles."

"What is it with these names?" Sam asked in amusement.

She leveled a stare at him. "You can't blame California for that one. He's British."

Dean sat up straight, eyes narrowing. "The new Watcher?"

"How did you figure that?" she blinked in surprise.

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" he shrugged. "From what you mentioned earlier about Merrick finding her, it doesn't sound like his…what did you call it?...Council? would lose track of her again."

She shook her head. "You're right; they certainly didn't want to do that. And yes, Giles was the new Watcher assigned to her. They did not hit it off at first – she was still trying to put the Slayer bit behind her while he was trying to get her to follow her 'duty'. It did not help that he started out a bit…stuffy, to put it mildly. That didn't last too long. Despite some disagreements over the years, he is the head of our organization, and the mentor/father-figure to the Scoobies."

"Who are the Scoobies?" Sam interrupted.

"I'm getting to that. So, Giles is generally mild-mannered, but he has a bit of a checkered past, and if you hurt one of his kids, you get to see a whole different side of his personality. His nickname during his college years was Ripper, if that gives you any hints." The other two shifted, but did not interrupt. She continued. "Anyway, at the end of her sophomore year, there was a prophecy that the Slayer would die at the hands of the Master. The Master was this old, nasty looking vampire that was stuck in the Hellmouth – kind of like a cork. Buffy went alone to fight him, and she lost. She drowned."

Two sets of eyes narrowed, but she shook her head. "Fortunately, prophecies don't take modern medical advances into account. Xander and another…friend followed her. Xander was able to save her using CPR. She fought the Master again, and won this time. The school year ended, and she went to spend some time with Hank. I think she was in shock and trying to find her way back to some form of normalcy. It didn't work. He paid more attention to his secretary instead of her, and between the two incidents, she came back in a serious phase of rebellion. I didn't get the whole story, but it was not pretty from what I heard. Anyway, that was the start of the Scoobies, or the Scooby gang. Xander coined the name in a reference to Scooby Doo – another group of 'ghost'-hunting teenagers."

She stopped to take a drink of water. "With everything I found out over the summer, I decided to transfer to UC-Sunnydale to be closer to Buffy and able to help. Mom was pissed. She wanted me to finish my degree in New York. We argued and I decided to stay in the dorms." Sam flinched but did not speak. "Buffy was more or less back to normal by the time I met everybody. So, there we were. Next up is Oz."

Dean's eyebrow went up and she pointed at him. "Not a word. It's a nickname. His real name is Daniel Osborne, but he never goes by that. It's just Oz. The best word to describe Oz is stoic. He almost never loses his cool. If he's obviously concerned about something, it's a fair bet that everyone else is having a panic attack. He is Willow's fiancé, and it was his daughter that was killed in the shooting. Oh, and he's a werewolf."

Their jaws dropped.

She fell back on the bed laughing at their expressions. As they gained control and scowled at her, she tried to stifle her amusement. Dean huffed. "Whenever you're done?"

Taking a deep breath, she went on, despite an errant giggle breaking out every so often. "Yes, he's a werewolf. However, thanks to his own calm persona and some meditation training he got in Tibet, he has control over that side of him. These days, he can control his change and keep his human self in command. The one thing you do not do is go after Willow. That causes him to lose control. Things get nasty at that point. I'll tell you some other stories about Oz and his pack later, I promise."

Both of them nodded.

"Next came Faith. When Buffy drowned, she technically died just long enough to activate another Slayer. That Slayer was named Kendra. Kendra was raised by a Council Watcher. She was practically the perfect Slayer: solemn, respectful, and efficient – just what the Council wanted. She barely lasted a year, and most of that was not on the Hellmouth. Unfortunately, as a Council raised watcher, she had a bad habit that ended up causing her death."

Sam lifted both eyebrows. "What was that?"

"She tended to follow orders without question. She didn't have enough personal, internal strength to fight back against a powerful hypnotist. She had just started to begin thinking for herself when she was killed at the end of Buffy's junior year. I'm pretty sure we were a bad influence on her." Dean nodded in solemn approval and leaned back in his chair. She moved on. "Her death triggered the next slayer, Faith Lehane. Faith blew into town early during Buffy's senior year. She's had a hard life, and she's made some bad decisions because of it. I kind of adopted her. Someone had to, and the others were still struggling with the fallout from the previous year. During a rather hectic fight, she made a mistake and accidentally killed a human. It broke her for a bit and things got nasty for several months. She played on the wrong side for a while, and even though she repented and came back, things were uneasy for a long time."

Fixing her eyes firmly on both of them, she leaned forward. "Faith comes from a very broken background, and I'm certain we still don't know everything she went through. She both talks and plays tough, and tends to be somewhat…loose in hooking up with guys. Do not play with her. She may be able to break you physically, but it is still too easy for someone to break her inside. I don't want it to be either of you." Locking gazes with each of them, she waited until they both nodded.

"Right then, the next year, as Faith continued to work with Giles and I in a form of rehabilitation, Buffy started at UC-Sunnydale with most of the others. Xander didn't have the grades for college, so he had to look for a job, but the others headed for higher education." Serenity grimaced. "I am skipping so much, but we don't have time for everything. Anyway, during a rather interesting episode, Oz met a young woman named Tara Maclay. He saved her and then she saved him. He took the whole situation in stride with his usual laid-back approach, but she seemed really frightened about having revealed herself and her powers. So he brought her to us. It took a few months, but we finally managed to get her story. She inherited her powers from mother – she's a hereditary witch. She was psychologically abused by her father and brothers – they told her she was part demon and that _that_ is where her powers came from."

Dean's eyes narrowed while Sam's mouth tightened into a scowl. Serenity shook her head. "It's not true; there's nothing demonic about that girl. She is…the best description I can give is that she is an earth-mother. She's natural, a great listener, and very much the "Mama Bear" when it comes to protecting the young ones. Her powers are nature based, and she has a better background in magical study than Willow. She doesn't have as much raw power as Willow, but she's better at the ritual aspects of it."

She sat back and looked at them for a long moment. Both of them seemed a bit touchy, but they did not seem ready to run. Dean cocked an eyebrow as the silence drew out. "We're not going to like what's next, are we?" She frowned in puzzlement. He shrugged. "You've got a Sam look on your face – the one he gets when he's pretty sure I'm not going to like what he's about to tell me."

Sam shook his head as she looked over to him. "Don't look at me."

"No," she sighed, "no, you're probably not going to like the next bit. It is definitely out there. If it wasn't for Willow's protections, you wouldn't be hearing about it right now anyway. Plus…" Here she paused and gave them each a long, direct look. "You still wouldn't be hearing about it if I didn't _know_ how important you hold family." Dean opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a hand. "It's about my youngest sister, my baby sister Dawn. She is mouthy, brilliant, annoying, gutsy – and she's…well, she calls herself a magical test-tube baby."

"What?"

She blinked at her brothers as they spoke in stereo before continuing. "Around five years ago, a group of monks were protecting a very powerful source of energy. It was called the Key – it held the power to open portals and, with the right ritual, to tear down the boundaries between dimensions. A very nasty and powerful Hellgoddess had been imprisoned on earth, forced to share physical space with a human being – kind of the ultimate in multiple personalities. Anyway, she wanted to go home and to do that, she needed the Key. Her minions had been hunting the monks and she was slowly decimating the entire group. In desperation, they took the Key and created a human form for it."

"I see where this is going," Sam said quietly.

"I'm sure you do," Serenity acknowledged. "Until six years ago, Dawn didn't exist."

Silence reigned in the room for several long minutes. Sam's expression shifted through various emotions while Dean remained expressionless. Finally, he heaved a long sigh and leaned forward, swiping one hand across his eyes. "No wonder you didn't blink our stuff."

She sniffed. "Please, your 'stuff'? I'm an empath, my younger sister is the oldest living Slayer in recorded history, and our baby sister is a magical ball of energy made human. Among the Scooby family, we have a Watcher, two powerful witches, a werewolf, a seer, the dark Slayer, and the One Who Sees. We run an international organization dedicated to fighting what goes bump in the night as well as a school to train Slayers, Watchers, witches, etc. in how to fight the good fight. I'll have breakfast in the Vatican, spend the morning on the phone with a sheriff in the back of beyond about something haunting his town, lunch at a deli with a good 'demon' clan, spend the afternoon crawling through the sewers to track down some nasty critter, dinner at the White House and be up until the wee hours of the morning researching the next big thing. We live on one of the mouths of Hell and have an apocalypse every spring." The two men were laughing by the time she got halfway through her rant, and she gave them a brilliant smile.

"So, two ghost-hunting brothers with some powers and some enemies? Pshaw – like that's going to be a problem. Just wait until you see what's really out there!"


End file.
